It is now time to return political campaigns to the people and take it back from the unions, the special interests and the very wealthy. Note that in the June primary we had the lowest voter turnout in the history of California. Worse, even if your candidate is elected, they are mostly beholden to donors, the wealthy, the special interests and the unions.

Stephen Frank, California Political News and Views | 2014-08-11

The time has come to declare the experiment with ending political parties nominating candidates for the November ballot over, and a failure. It is now time to return political campaigns to the people and take it back from the unions, the special interests and the very wealthy. Note that in the June primary we had the lowest voter turnout in the history of California. Most Californians have given up—they know they do not make a difference. Worse, even if your candidate is elected, they are mostly beholden to donors, the wealthy, the special interests and the unions.Want people to vote, make them feel like it counts—they know that as long as Prop. 14 is the law, the votes do not count—unless you have tens of thousands of dollars standing behind the vote. Repeal Prop. 14 and return the ballot box to the people.Error! Filename not specified.Repeal Prop. 14 (Top Two Primary) Before Unions and Wealthy Totally Own Sacramento—Editorial by Stephen FrankStephen Frank, editorial, California Political News and Views, 8/7/14A few years ago, Arnold, the professional fondler and amateur Governor, and his wealthy friends, told us that if we got rid of the Republican and Democrat Parties by disallowing partisan primaries, we would have a more collegial legislature and things would get done. None of those nasty Party primaries. What has been the result?Per the Sacramento Bee, “New data show the Golden State continues to have the nation’s most polarized Legislature by a measure of the ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans. Researchers have noted that the polarization has not been a real obstacle to lawmaking here, given the Democratic Party’s dominance.On the November 2012 ballot there were 28 legislative races where there was only one Party on the ballot—so much for a choice. Conservatives in eight races and radical Progressive in 20 seats. Now, the Republican Party in Santa Clara County is privately discussing endorsing Congressman Mike Honda for re-election—he is a Progressive Democrat. Why have a Republican Party when it spends its time endorsing Democrats instead of electing Republicans to office. Why should the GOP get in the middle of a food fight among Democrats?The good news is that a year or so ago, the Santa Clara GOP endorsed a Democrat for Supervisor and that caused her to lose, big! Maybe the money people running the Santa Clara Party want the Honda opponent to win?One of the goals of Prop. 14 is to stop people from registering with a partisan Party and at the same time end Third Parties as a factor in elections. In the June, 2014 primary the American Independent Party put up not a single candidate for office. Instead, it endorsed Republicans for office. On the November 2014 ballot there are only a few nominees that are neither Democrat nor Republicans—very few. Both the Democrat and Republican parties are losing registrants—Decline to State is the fastest growing. Why register as a member of any political party if it doesn’t matter. Good way to kill off partisanship and force people into special interests and single interests rather than be involved on behalf of wider issues and causes together with others of the same viewpoint.We were told that if we ended political parties on the ballot, let the top two vote getters move to the November ballot, we would have a more “moderate” group of candidates. Instead, we have liberals claiming to be conservatives in Republican districts and responsible Democrats trying to sound like Obama is their ideological leader—uber alles. Unions own the Democrat Party and the Republican Party had one person spend $42.9 million in the 2011-12 election cycle.Conservatives and liberal activists are treated like fodder by this system. Special interests and the wealthy out spending each other for control of the legislature. At the end of the day those elected, mostly with few exceptions, report to their donors instead of their constituents.It is time for Republicans and Democrats to take back elections. The time has come for the voters to control the outcome. The first step is to have Republicans nominate Republicans, Democrats nominate Democrats and Third parties be allowed to be heard on the November ballot. That is called electoral freedom. Prop. 14 takes away the First Amendment right of freedom of Assembly, in this case in the voting booth.We have other election reforms that are needed. For instance, all donations to a campaign should be voluntary. Millions of dollars have been taken from the paychecks of workers forcibly, then given to candidates the workers never heard of or approve of. Politics is a voluntary avocation—being told you will lose your job if you do not pay “dues” to a third party and then giving portion of that money to people who want to raise your taxes, make it difficult to have a job in California and make sure perverts and bad teachers stay in the classroom is morally and ethically wrong.Let me know what you think. Do you support the repeal of Prop. 14 and return Republicans and Democrats to the November ballot in all races? Forward this to your political friends, let them get into the discussion—repeal Prop. 14 in 2016!